Expecting Temptation
by EarthsTrueGreen
Summary: Rose thought that everything was perfect. She was wrong, but she isn't entirely ready to give up yet. Sequel to Fighting Temptation and Confronting Temptation
1. Hard Times

**Chapter 1**

"You're pregnant?" Scorpius stuttered for what seemed like the fifth time.

"Yup," Rose said and turned on her heels to head for their bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Blaring music with the erratic stringing of instruments suddenly filled Scorpius' ears, and he just stared at the spot where she had been standing. His eyes shifting to the door of their bedroom- the source of the rock music being played.

The color began to return to his face. "Pregnant," he repeated in a whisper.

Unable to move his eyes off their bedroom door, he couldn't let the conversation end like that. So he headed towards the sound of the music, opened the door, and was immediately met with an overwhelming volume of loudness that made it impossible to think.

His eyes crossed the room; taking in the chaotic scene. On the bed was an open suitcase with a pile of wadded clothes that had been hurriedly shoved in seconds before. He looked to the figure beside the suitcase. Rose wasn't folding clothes or rushing around to pack any last minute items that one might forget. Instead, she was sat on the edge of the bed with her back hunched over so that her chest was in her lap. Rose's hands were roughly clamped over her eyes, and her body shook profusely. Scorpius noted how she didn't even know that he was standing in the room with her. Waving his wand to the stereo, the music turned off, and Scorpius' ears rang with a sharp high pitched buzz that made him feel that the silence was more deafening.

Rose didn't look up, or speak. She remained in her cradled position. Her body, in a continuous motion, softly rocked back and forth as she sobbed quietly into her hands.

Scorpius took a heavy breath and walked over to her. Pushing the suit case away, he sat down beside her and placed a timid hand gently on her back. "Are you sure you're pregnant?" he asked, trying to not seem insensitive but at the same time wanting to clarify the answer.

Rose could barely nod. She reached forward- keeping her face buried into her chest- and grabbed a white plastic stick off her night stand, and handed it to him. Scorpius looked at the tiny pink plus sign in disbelief and amazement. A warmness began to fill his stomach and spread through his chest. Scorpius' mind had gone completely blank from the conversation they had had minutes ago. The only thing he could think about was that he was going to be a father; and for a slight second he was happy. That was until he looked down to his sobbing wife, who was perched beside him, and the happiness faded and was replaced by guilt. How could he be happy when Rose was so sad? He curled his arm further around her back and tried to pull her in to comfort her, but Rose wouldn't move.

"Please, just leave me alone," she said in pleading voice that was muffled by her hands and tears.

"Rose." Scorpius tried, his hand still on her back. Rose sniffled and turned her face to look up to him. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot, making her brown irises look darker. Her face was a bright shade of red and her cheeks were shiny from being coated in tears. But the worst part was the expression she gave to him. Scorpius thought watching Rose cry over her father was the saddest he'd seen her, but nothing compared to the way she was looking at him now. Her lips couldn't even stay closed from how badly she wanted to keep crying, and the expression of her eyes were begging him to leave. She was struggling to continue looking at him, and she finally had to turn her head back into her hands. "Please just go away," she gasped.

Scorpius didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay there until she stopped. But he knew that this was his fault, and because of that she wasn't going to stop until he left.

* * *

><p>It was late in the morning for Rose's standards. Just past eight with the sun gleaming in through her bedroom window, and yet, Rose had not made an attempt to get of bed. She remained laying on her side staring at the empty spot where Scorpius would usually be laying. There was no desire in her to get up and begin the day, instead she remained still blinking her red rimmed eyelids open and closed, taking in their burn. Rubbing her fingers over them, Rose could feel the dry crusted tears from the hours before break apart and crumble.<p>

There was the soft padding of footsteps coming towards her, the sound of a ceramic mug being lowered onto wood, and a sigh from Scorpius as he gently moved to sit on the edge of the bed beside Rose. Rose closed her eyes, and kept them closed. On some level she knew that Scorpius wouldn't believe that she was asleep, but he endured her anyways. Tenderly stroking the back of his hand down her arm leaving her hairs to stick up. His fingers brushed up the same path making their way past her shoulder, then her neck and cheek, which is where he stopped. His touch curved, and the soft cool skin of his knuckles smoothed her hair out of her face.

He slowly bent forward and pressed his forehead to her temple. The tip of his nose brushed against the brim of her ear. The hand that was caressing her face had moved back to her arm where it mimicked the same position. Rose squeezed her eyelids tightly together, not daring to look at him. The sound of his warm breaths filling her ears and ripping through her chest. Quickly Rose opened her mouth and breathed in a cool breath of air, which was impossible to swallow.

"Rose," he whispered, his fingers beginning to travel again. This time they went past her own hand and paused at her stomach; carefully making their way down to her lower abdomen. "Please talk to me." He said, reaching his intended destination and spreading his hand flat against the part of her body where Rose was carrying their child.

Rose opened her eyes and breathed in shallowly. "I don't know what to say," she said with a scratchy voice that felt as though it hadn't been used in years.

"Anything," Scorpius urged patiently. "You're pregnant," he said, and pushed his palm tighter into her stomach. His thumb searching for the hem of her shirt so that he could brush her skin.

The intimate moment was so unbearable, that Rose found hard to breathe. She rolled onto her back, forcing his hand to pull away and looked up to his hurt expression. "Is that your coffee or mine?" she asked.

Scorpius moved to prop himself up and stared down to her. "Mine," he answered defeated, but reached to hand her the cup anyways. He didn't dare to try and touch her again.

Rose pushed herself into a sitting position, and brought her knees up into her chest. Taking the coffee she took a slow sip while feeling Scorpius' unmoving gaze on her.

"Should you be drinking that?" he asked in as much of a normal tone as he could manage.

The brim of the cup was already pressed to her lips. She paused and stared up to him. "Probably not, but considering everything that I have been through in the last twelve hours, I don't think this is a good day for me to give up coffee as well." She took a sip from her mug and mumbled, "Tomorrow."

Scorpius wasn't in position to argue with her. Turning he balance his elbows on his knees and stared at the lines in the wood of their floor. "How is your dad?"

Rose choked on her current sip. Clearing her throat, she placed the mug on the bedside table. "Alive, I think." She stated.

Scorpius looked at her from the corner of his eye. "What do you mean you think?"

"Well I was under the impression that he hated me, so when he woke up I ran." Rose said awkwardly.

Scorpius bowed his head and stared at his hands. "I'm sorry," he said solemnly.

Rose wanted to reach out and pat his shoulder or rub his back. She wanted to comfort him because she knew that his guilt was eating away at him, but she also knew that if she made the slightest move towards him then everything inside of her would fall apart. The fact was that she loved him more than anything else and knowing that even with all that love he still didn't trust her… it was killing her.

"I have to get ready for work." She diverted her eyes and stared straight ahead of her.

Scorpius looked up to her and saw the blankness of her expression. "Rose, I'm sure Cornell would understand if you took the day off."

Rose continued to stare ahead and shook her head. "Scorpius, I don't want to take the day off," she said and moved to get out of bed; leaving Scorpius behind.

* * *

><p>It was midafternoon, and with the exception of talking to Cornell in his office, Rose had not left her desk. She had already completed three of her work files, and she was hoping to have at least six done by the end of the day. When she got on a roll she didn't want to stop and at the moment focusing on her previous cases was better than letting her mind wander. So she stayed put. Scorpius brought by a chicken salad wrap when it was time for lunch, to which she said thank you and continued on with her work.<p>

Rose had just finished summarizing her role in her Donald May case when she felt a figure hovering behind her. Pretending not to notice she closed the file and reached for a new one, waiting for the person to speak.

"So you're knocked up?" Matt asked bluntly.

Rose lowered her quill and swiveled around in her chair. Sighing, she looked up to him with a snarky smirk. Matt had his arms crossed and his eyes raised curiously as he tried to gauge her mood. "What a lovely way of putting it," She stated, turning back around and picking up her quill again.

Matt chuckled as he walked around to his desk. Taking a seat he continued to keep his eyes on her. "You seem to be in a chipper mood," he said sarcastically.

Rose continued to write her report, bearing her quill so hard into the paper that it ripped, causing ink to leak on to her desk. "I've had a lot going on," she said dropping her quill down and reaching for her wand to clean up the mess.

"Scorpius not happy?" Matt inferred.

Rose put her wand back in her drawer. "No, he's-" Rose wasn't sure how Scorpius felt about the baby. In light of everything that had been going on they hadn't really talked about it. Although, judging by the way he was touching her that morning Rose could assume that he was a lot happier about it than she was. "He's fine with it," she mumbled. "It's other things." She focused back down on her folder, only to jerk her head back up to Matt. "Wait how do you even know?"

Matt leaned back in his chair. "I'm a genius," he announced simply, to which Rose rolled her eyes, causing Matt laugh and tell the truth. "Well Cornell had to tell me that my partner wasn't going to be on field duty for the next nine months."

"Seven," Rose corrected.

Matt narrowed his eyes to Rose for missing the point. "I digress. For an extended amount of time that is longer than three months, which means that an alternate partner must be brought in to take over the position," recited Matt as though he had memorized the policy from the _Auror Handbook_. "Or something like that."

"Well I'm sure you'll manage." Rose met Matt's eyes and could tell he wanted to say more, but thankfully didn't.

She was about to continue on with her work when she heard "I'm looking for Rose Weasley or Malfoy," being said by a voice she wished she hadn't heard.

"I'm over here Hugo," she said turning back around in her chair and staring at her brother, who was talking to one of the Auror trainees, a few feet away.

Hugo moved to walk towards her, but Rose shook her head and stood up; going over to him instead. Tugging him by the sleeve of his shirt, Rose pulled him into the stair well-away from the rest of the office. "Is everything alright?' she asked, trying not to explicitly say _has dad died_.

Hugo looked floored to have been asked such a question. "You left?" he whispered angrily.

Rose released a quick breath of air. "I was confused," she said calmly. "And I had to deal with some things."

Hugo waved his hand erratically in front of him. "You had some things to deal with," he repeated non-sympathetically. "Damn it, we all have stuff to do. We didn't anticipate for dad to get sick either, but he did. And I'm sorry if that is inflicting on your life but-"

"Are you here just to scold me?" Rose asked in a tired voice; leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.

Hugo's eyes looked outraged. "Do you seriously not care?"

"I care," Rose said quickly in a harsh voice.

"Yeah, well, you have a way of showing it," he mumbled bitterly.

Rose lowered her eyes to the ground. "Hugo please, what are you doing here?"

Hugo leaned on the opposite wall, mimicking her position. "We need you to come home."

Rose's head shot up with a wild expression. "Say what?"

"Rose I know you have your life, but-" Hugo paused. "I have a baby to take care of, and mum has a job that refuses to leave her alone, even if her husband is in the hospital sick, and she has taken medical leave." Hugo's gaze softened as though he hated to admit that he wasn't able to be the solid rock of the family. "This is affecting all of us, and me and mum we cannot do this alone." He took a step towards his sister. "We need help."

The two siblings stared down at each other. Rose was taking short breathes that were making her feel unstable. She gripped her hand against the railing and listened to Hugo say, "I know that you have a job Rose."

"Actually, I'm off field duty for a while," she said quickly without even thinking.

She waited a moment before actually looking at Hugo. He didn't ask why, in fact Rose was sure that the question to why hadn't even crossed his mind. "Rose, we're all scared, but please don't make us go through this alone." Only Hugo's eyes could go from outrage to completely sincere in less than a second. "Please come home."

Rose closed her eyes at the question. Hugo had rarely asked her for anything, but he was asking her for this; and maybe that was why she said, "Alright."

* * *

><p>On the way home Scorpius had picked up groceries. Rose had barely spoken to him all day, and when he waited for her after work she had already gone. He knew that he messed up, but at the same time, he hated the way she was treating him. This was supposed to be joyous time in their lives. They were expecting a child, and he wanted to be happy about it, but Rose wasn't letting him. She was barely looking at him, and Scorpius had to admit if he knew that she was pregnant he would have never had told her that he didn't trust her. Regardless, he figured it was best to let Rose cool down some and give her the space she wanted.<p>

When he walked in through the front door Rose was already home. She was sitting in a large chair with her legs crisscrossed, and a folder in her lap. Scorpius made a little extra noise as he entered so that Rose couldn't pretend to have not heard him.

"I didn't see you leave the office earlier," He said, walking over to the kitchen counter and lowering the bag of groceries.

Rose scratched her forehead, but kept her eyes focused on her folder. "I left early," she said, in a shaky voice.

Scorpius began to dig around the bag and place apples, carrots, and lettuce in the fridge. Once he reached the bottom of the bag he grabbed the last item- a box of _Berti Botts Every Flavor Beans_- and headed over to Rose.

"Picked these up for you," he said putting the package on the table in front of her.

For the first time that evening Rose lifted her head and stared at the box of sweets. He was trying the best he could to smooth everything over, but a box of candy wasn't going to do that. Staring at it she looked up to him and his worried expression, only to quickly look down and cover her eyes with her hands. "Scorpius, I have to go to London for a while." Her voice was dry, already knowing what his first reaction was going to be.

Scorpius' posture stiffened, as he crossed his arms and towered over her. "When?" he asked sharply.

Rose lowered her eyes to the ground, and it was then that Scorpius noticed the packed bag that was sitting on the floor beside her chair.

"So that's it then." He whipped around, unable to look at her, and walked to the breakfast bar, where he rested his hands. "You're not even going to discuss this with me?" He didn't even try to hide the edge in his voice.

"Scorpius I-" she tried, but Scorpius was too angry to hear her out.

"This is what I'm talking about." He yelled.

Rose's nervous looked disappeared and she bolted up. "Don't be angry at me," Rose spat.

"It's hard not to be when you make it impossible for me to trust you." Scorpius slammed his palms into the bar.

"And is me staying here, never leaving your side, going to make you trust me?" Rose said in a voice that was a mixture of anger and hurt.

Scorpius turned around and stormed over to her. "YES!" he shouted. "IT WILL!"

Rose stumbled back and closed her eyes. She could hear his deep breathing and listened as it calmed. She opened her eyes, and stared at him with as steady of look that she could manage. "I can't stay," she said as reasonably as she could. "If I don't he is going to think I don't love him, or care about him." She looked down. "They all are."

"So you're choosing your family again," Scorpius snarled. "What does this mean for us, are you not even going to try and fix us?" He wasn't thinking in his right mind. It was as though his worst fears were coming to true, and he just wanted to get even. "Do you want to get a divorce? Fine by me, If you don't want to make this work than neither do I."

Rose slapped him. "Are you out of your mind?" She hissed, staring at him as he rubbed the red impression of her hand on his cheek. She reached out and grabbed a hold of his wrist yanking it towards her. "A divorce is the last thing I want." She gripped his hand tighter and waited for him to understand that. His eyes that were full of rage began to soften into the eyes that she was familiar with. The ones that belonged to the man she was in love with.

"Then stay with me," he pleaded in a whisper. He raised his free hand to cup her cheek and pull her closer to him.

His touch alone almost made Rose forget about everything that had happened. It almost made her say yes, but when she blinked her eyes and stared up to him, her insides began to tremble and she swore it felt like her heart was being ripped out of his chest. "I can't," she repeated weakly. "Even if my father wasn't sick, I couldn't stay here." Rose raised her own hand and wrapped it around the back of his neck. "I need time away from you, because not only do you not trust me, but I don't trust you." Her voice choked. "Looking at you, being in the same room with you is killing me, do you not get that?" she pleaded with him to understand.

Scorpius bent his forehead down and pushed it against hers. "What do I have to do?" he said, closing his eyes and taking in her breathing.

There was a part of Rose that never wanted to let go of this man, but there was another part of her that thought if she didn't let go soon, then she would die in his arms. "Merlin, I love you blindly," she said more to herself. Sniffling she tugged her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. "We were idiots to think that we could just pick up where we left off six years ago." Scorpius opened his eyes to search for a meaning. "You have to trust me, that's what you can do."

Scorpius shook his head not wanting to accept her decision to leave. "And how am I supposed to do that with you gone?"

"By trusting me when I say that I am coming home. By believing me when I tell you that I love you, and I do intend on spending the rest of my life with you." Rose gave a sad smile. "I can't make you trust me. You have to do that on your own." Lowering her hand, Rose pulled away from him and bent down to pick up her bag.

"And what about the baby?" Scorpius asked to the floor.

Rose straightened her posture and flung the bag onto her shoulder. "I'll tell you when I have appointments, and I expect you to be there for them."

Scorpius nodded but refused to watch her as she walked into their fireplace. Listening as she picked up the floo powder, he gave a quick glance to her and asked, "Do you promise that this isn't going to be forever?"

Rose gave an uncertain smile. "I made my choice Scorpius, and I'm not changing my mind. I'll wait for you, as long as it takes, and the second that you figure out how to get over this, I will come home, but that means that you have to actually figure it out." She tightened her grip on the floor powder in her hand. "So, I guess that means the answer is up to you." And she let the powder drop to the ground.

A/N: Before you hate me and disagree with my choice, please understand that for them to be strong Scorpius has to see that Rose can leave and come back. If Rose just stayed then it would almost be like he was trapping her and that it not what I want. The distance between them isn't going to be long and just because she is gone doesn't mean that she is going to cut him out of her life again. So please have a little faith. That being said do you think she is justified in leaving? Let me know what you think.


	2. Chit Chats

**Chapter 2**

Rose awoke in her childhood bedroom to the sound of her mother's voice calling her name from downstairs. "Rose," Hermione's voice said again, and Rose rolled over in bed and pulled a pillow over her face. "Breakfast is ready." Rose groaned. Breakfast, no matter how important, was the absolute last thing she wanted. She wanted sleep; deep, endless, blissful sleep.

"Rose, are you alright?" Hermione hollered.

Rose pulled the pillow down her face. "I'll be down in a minute mum," she responded, pushing the pillow aside and sitting up. Looking around, Rose saw two weeks' worth of clothes sprawled across the floor and reached for the closest jumper and socks; pulling both articles of clothing on before heading down to the kitchen.

To say that the scene down stairs was chaotic would have been an understatement. Bacon was burning on the stove, and the coffee pot was overflowing. At the same time Hermione was listening to an elderly man, whose head was sticking out of the fire place, while trying to balance a stack of papers that were slipping through the bottom of her arms.

"And how exactly did the file room get blown up?" Hermione said, raising her knee to balance the papers even more and reaching her spare hand behind her to turn off the stove.

"Mum give me those," Hugo's said, his body emerging out from behind another large stack of papers that were on the table.

Hermione nodded and handed off the papers to Hugo. "Well Irving said-"

"Irving!" She shrieked, looking around Hugo's shoulder to stare at the man. "No wonder," she said dramatically. "I'll be there when I can."

"Thank you," the man responded; his head disappearing from the fireplace.

"I'm am going to hex Irving," Hermione stated irritably as she rushed towards the direction of her office and slamming the door.

"Good morning?" Rose asked sarcastically.

"Hey," Hugo grumbled with his back to her as he scoured the kitchen table for a place to put his mother's file. Gingerly, he tried to balance them on an already wavering pile; waiting to see if they fell over. Turning around he gave a grimace of a smile. "They have been bothering her all morning," he announced, returning back to his seat.

Rose moved to the stove and grabbed a piece of bacon. "Yeah, I feel sorry for Irving," she said walking over to the table and taking a seat beside Hugo.

Hugo snorted. "I don't, he's an idiot."

She smirked. "Why are you here so early?" she asked finishing up her bacon and wiping her sleeve over her mouth.

"Mum owled me at the crack of dawn saying to come here the second I got a chance. She wants to have a family meeting." There was a sarcastic tone to his voice as he gave a mocking grin.

Rose shook her head at the news. "About what?" Rose droned, knowing that whenever her mother wanted to have a family meeting it usually meant something horrible was about to happen.

Hugo shrugged. "No idea."

"Great," Rose mumbled.

The door to their mother's office squeaked open. They could here the sound of footstep and slow breaths coming towards to them. Hugo and Rose both popped their heads over the folders and saw their mother standing in the middle of the kitchen with her head bent and a hand over her eyes.

"You didn't kill Irving did you?" Rose asked.

Hermione lifted her head up slowly—her hand moving in front of her lips. "No," she said softly, staring blankly into space for a moment before looking back down to her children. She pushed a professional smile onto her face. "I had an idea last night," she said walking towards the table a plucking a specific folder out from a pile.

Hugo and Rose leaned back into their seats. "An idea," the said in unison.

Hermione grinned broadly as she opened the folder and pulled out two sheets of paper—passing out a sheet to each of them. "Yes, and idea."

Rose looked down to the paper and saw very detailed time table that was carefully labeled in tiny cramped handwriting with their schedule for the day. Rose began to read:

7:10-7:15 Breakfast, and family meeting.

7:15-7:30 Shower and get dressed.

7:30-8:00 Go to St. Mungos.

8:00-10:00 Visit Dad.

10:00-10:15 Bathroom break and schedule appointment with Maternity ward at St. Mungos.

"You scheduled bathroom breaks for us?" Hugo was the first to say, lifting his head up and staring at Hermione.

Rose raised her own head. "Seriously you gave me an appointment to make an appointment." She lowered her time table.

Hermione gave a stern eye. "Rose just because there is a lot going on at the moment doesn't mean that that baby is going to stop growing. You need to get a healer lined up, you need to get into preparation classes, and you need to get blood work and an ultrasound done to make sure that everything is alright."

Rose bowed her head unable to argue. "Mum I don't even know if I'm giving birth in London or in New York yet."

Hermione's grin widened. "I know, that's something you can talk about with Scorpius when you call him."

Rose's mouth dropped as she lowered her eyes farther down the paper and saw the block, 3:00-3:30 call Scorpius. When it came to Scorpius, Rose hadn't exactly told her family—Albus excluded—about her father's letters yet, or that she and Scorpius weren't on the best of terms at the moment. As far as she was concerned they thought her and her husband were as close as ever, and Rose planned on keeping it that way for as long as she could.

Hugo looked at her paper. "You think that's bad, she scheduled time for me to play with Belinda."

"No way," Rose said dubiously only to be proven wrong when she looked at her brother chart. "Mum you know this is crazy right? We've been fine for the past two weeks just going to see dad in shifts."

"And we're still going in shifts…" Hermione bit her bottom lip. "Just more organized ones."

"Mum," Hugo and Rose protested.

"No complaining." Hermione shook her head. "Healer Marshal has told me that your father's condition is improving and that it shouldn't be long until he is able to wake up on his own and stay conscious." She narrowed her eyes at her children. "I know that we are all under a lot of stress right now, and I just thought that a detailed schedule might help us. Because when your father wakes up I don't want him to not have anyone there."

Rose stared at her mother, with purple circles under her eyes—she spent most nights at the hospital—and disheveled curls springing out in a hundred directions. She looked sad and stressed and tired, and Rose felt horrible. She and Hugo both silently nodded.

"Good." Hermione nodded as though she were mentally checking something off a list. "Now I've got to go back into my office and talk to Irving about the proper way to store file folders." And she turned and left.

Rose stared at her mother as she walked back into her office; mentally wishing that she could do more to help. Since she had been home she had taken over most of the cooking and chores, and during the days when her mother and Hugo were at work she would usually be sitting in a hospital room with her father asleep.

Hugo tugged her schedule from her hands. "I'll trade you my bathroom breaks during our conjoined afternoon visits for your work hours in the evening," he proposed softly.

Rose turned to look at him. "Why do you need so many extra work hours?" she asked curiously.

"The Quidditch World cup is coming up, there's just a lot of preparation," he answered distantly.

"Sure," Rose answered, thinking at the moment that extra bathroom breaks would come in handy. "I can work on my files while I'm sitting with dad."

Tilting her head, Rose watched as Hugo studied his schedule—his face scrunching up as though he were trying to piece together puzzle. She stood up and stretched her arms over her head. "I guess we better get going if we are going to stick to this ridiculous schedule."

Hugo looked up to her, his face falling back into its usual chipper expression. "Before you go I brought you something," he said reaching behind his chair and pulling out a large brown paper bag and handing it to her.

"What's this?" Rose said reaching down and pulling out a stack of books with titles like _Pregnancy for the Average Witch _and _What to Expect When You're Expecting a Wizard_.

"I thought you could use them," he said sheepishly.

Rose lowered the books back into the bag. "Thanks," she mumbled politely, making Hugo snort.

He stood up and stepped towards Rose. "Whatever Scorpius did to piss you off don't push him away from this."

Rose nearly fell into her seat from his words. "How did you know—don't answer that," she said shaking her head as though the answer was obvious.

"Don't worry Rose I won't say a word." Hugo said reaching out and pulling his sister into a reluctant hug. "See you later," he said after letting her go, and he left for work.

Once alone Rose eyed the paper bag speculatively. Her hands placed firmly on her hips as she paced in front of it; her eyes never moving. Finally she reluctantly grabbed it and went upstairs.

Back in her room, Rose did as the schedule said: took a shower and started to get dressed. When she pulled her jeans on they were snug in the hips. It seemed bizarre to Rose that her jeans would already be feeling tight—she had only found out she was pregnant two weeks ago—but as she did the math in her head she realized that she would be reaching the end of her first trimester sometime the following week.

Rose spun around and lifted her shirt up in the mirror. From the front nothing looked different. Her stomach gave the illusion of being flat, but when she turned to the side she could see the reason for her jeans being tight. Near the lower end of her stomach was the smallest sliver of a bump.

For a moment she forgot to breathe. To anyone else it wouldn't be noticed at all, but as she stared at it Rose began to wonder how she hadn't noticed it. The bump was right there in front of her—no, a part of her…growing—and she had never given it the slightest bit of attention. Rose swept her hand across the area. The hairs of her arms sticking up as she did so. It felt tight and like skin. Lowering her eyes to it, she breathed low quick breaths. "I guess this another one of those things you can add to the bad mother list," she said, sighing as she let go of her shirt.

* * *

><p>"A mucus plug," Rose said in an appalled tone. "What the hell is a mucus plug?" Peering over the top of her book to look at her father's unconscious body with a disgusted expression on her face.<p>

"Interesting," Albus mumbled beside her.

"What?" Rose asked changing her direction to her cousin.

Albus looked up to her. "Did you know your baby has elbows?" he announced grinning humorously.

Rose raised her eyebrows and stared deadpanned at Albus. "Fascinating," she said dully and looked to her own book; turning the page about the mucus plug. "Oh for crying out loud." The next page wasn't any better. There was an extremely disturbing picture of the top of a baby's red and green slime covered head crowning during labor. Rose quickly slammed the book shut and pushed it aside. "That's it, I'm not having a baby." She shook her head determined. "Nope, not happening."

Albus laughed and closed his own book. "I don't think it works like that Rose," he said leaning forward and placing the book on top of hers.

Rose scowled. "Just let me believe what I want to believe." She looked down to her watch and saw that it was just past three. Reaching for her bag, Rose pulled out her mobile phone and stared at.

"You're not going to be able to get reception in her Rose," Albus stated staring at his cousin from the corner of his eye.

"I know," Rose replied.

Albus watched her meaningfully. "I can stay a little bit longer if you want to go outside and call him."

"No," she said too quickly. "No, it's fine." She put her phone back into her bag and dropped it on the ground. "He's at work anyways, I would just be disturbing him." She reasoned with herself.

Straitening her posture Rose watched as a nurse walked in to check the IV's in her father's arm. When she had left Albus asked, "So how is he?" he nodded towards Ron's direction.

Rose shrugged and stared at her hands sitting in her lap. "He's—" She searched for a word. "Asleep. He snores, and he moans, and he wakes up for a minute and then falls back asleep." She turned to Albus. "Mum stays with him every night, and usually in the day Grandma Molly comes in with food." Rose chuckled to herself. "I swear she thinks that he's going to wake up if he smells some of her homemade soup."

"That sounds about right," Albus agreed.

She faced back to her father—whose head had moved into a different position. "What are you going to say to him when he wakes up?" she heard Albus say.

Rose shook her head. "Jury's still out." She sighed. "I know what Scorpius did was awful, but does a few letters really make up for everything that my dad has done." She looked over to Albus. "I mean he pushed me out of his life months before he even sent me those letters. He didn't want to know how I was, or if I was happy. He wanted nothing to do with me because of Scorpius."

Albus was quiet for a moment. "I think the point is that he did send the letters. It took him a while but he did it."

Rose shrugged. "Sometimes I wonder if I had gotten the letters the way I was supposed to if I would have read them. Sometimes I think that I would have ripped them open in a heartbeat and other times I think I would have just put them in a drawer like Scorpius did," she admitted solemnly.

Albus quizzically raised an eyebrow. "So why are you so mad at Scorpius?" He asked confused.

Rose leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. "I'm not mad at Scorpius. I mean I am but I'm not. I'm more hurt." She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "There wasn't a second in our marriage that he wasn't lying to me. Not one." She bit her lip. "I don't understand how a person can keep saying that they love you, but then constantly keep lying to you?" She opened her eyes to stare at Albus. "I gave him everything, and do you know how shitty it feels to know that it still wasn't enough. That he still doesn't trust me."

She slapped the top of her knee with frustration. "I'll tell you how it feels. It makes you feel absolutely worthless…and useless, and pointless, and meaningless, and a whole bunch of other lesses, and—" she calmed her breathing. "I love him. I really really love him, which is what makes this whole thing worse, because I am in love with someone who makes me feel like shit. And it's not even his fault it's mine."

"Have you told Scorpius that you feel like this?" He asked softly.

Rose had a look of outrage on her face. "Why?" she said preposterously. "So I can continue being the horrible person that I am and make him feel worse." She buried her face into her knees. "No thank you."

"Rose," Albus said comfortingly, curling an arm around her back. "You're not a horrible person, and your certainly not worthless." he affirmed, squeezing her shoulders tightly, but Rose wouldn't look up to him.

Sighing he leaned his head down closer to hers. "I'm going to tell you something that I have thought for a long time. I don't recall you murdering someone, or using an unforgivable curse. You broke up with a boyfriend. That's not a crime," he said sternly. "And I think it is stupid for you to keep beating yourself up over it. You should not have to feel guilty about that for the rest of your life. You have both made your mistakes. That was yours, and his was hiding those letters. I think you're even now."

Rose breathed deeply into her knees—the fabric of her jeans becoming warm against her skin—and turned on her cheek to watch Albus. "Merlin, I hope so."

* * *

><p>"Seriously Scorpius you are driving me nuts," said Carla, looking up to meet Scorpius' penetrating stare. Lowering her quill she shut the file that she and been working on to indicate to Scorpius that he had her full attention.<p>

"Have you talked to her?" he asked bluntly.

Carla groaned and began to swivel side to side in her chair, in debate about if she should answer honestly. "For like a minute last night," she said breaking her promise to Rose not to tell Scorpius that she called.

Scorpius pushed all notions of work out of his mind and leaned forward eagerly. His palms flat on his desk and hunching his head down as though this conversation was top secret. "What did she say?" he asked hopefully.

Carla shook her head. "I can't tell you that. Girl code."

Scorpius starred at Carla with deadpanned eyes. He hadn't told Carla about what he had done so that she could live by some ridiculous code of ethics. No, he told her so that she could try and help him. "Girl code," he repeated. "What the bloody hell is that?"

Carla stopped swinging her char and scooted closer into her desk—mimicking his position. "You know when you talk to your guy friends about your problems…" She trailed off and shook her head. "Never mind. The point is what we talked about was stuff that she wanted me to keep quiet about."

Scorpius frowned. "Well that's offensive," He said, straightening his posture and sagging into his chair. He had a feeling that asking for Carla's help was a long shot. She was Rose's friend longer and that was where her loyalty lied. His eyes momentarily stared down to his work before glancing back to Carla. "Please?"

Carla gave Scorpius a sincere look. "She asked about you?" she finally said after a long moment of deliberation.

Scorpius raised an eyebrow to his partner. "What did you tell her?"

"The truth," she responded. "That you're miserable."

"Well that's an understatement." He grumbled, picking up his quill and resuming to work.

With a fixed gaze Carla thoughtfully stared at him; pondering her words. "Scorpius," she said, waiting for him to look at her. Once he did she asked, "Did you trust Rose when you married her?" Her words careful.

He was silent. His mind thinking over the days before him and Rose's wedding. He nodded. "Yes, or at least I thought I did." His eyes became glassy as he thought. "When it's just me and her everything is perfect, but when her father gets involved—" Scorpius shook his head discouragingly. "He just—" His face contorted in frustration. "Ughh."

"Don't hurt yourself," Carla stated.

Scorpius rubbed his eyes. "She's pregnant, and she won't even talk to me."

Carla pressed her lips together. "She'll come around. You just have to give her time."

"She may come around and actually call me, but that still doesn't mean she'll come back to me." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't want to be a dad who sees their kid one night a week and every other weekend. I want to be there and see everything."

"You know Rose is a very…different person, but I don't think she would ever keep you away your kid." Carla smiled with an encouraging nod. "As for getting her back, she wants you to trust her so learn to trust her."

Scorpius fell open in shock. "And how am I supposed to do that when she is in a different country? It's not exactly easy to just trust a person."

Carla snapped her glare at Scorpius. "Do you honestly believe that she won't come home?" she asked bluntly.

Scorpius didn't answer because he didn't know.

Carla clicked her tongue. "Well, there's the root to that problem." And she went back to her work.

* * *

><p>Rose tossed around in bed for what felt like the hundredth time in the course of three hours. No matter which way she landed she was unable to find a position to make her comfortable. Sighing she sat up and turned on her bedside lamp. Her Bedroom had an odd quiet feel about it, as though the rest of the world were asleep and she shouldn't be disrupting it but the addition of light.<p>

Sighing, she rubbed her eyes and looked up—her eyes landing on the mobile phone sitting on her nightstand. A debatable thought occurring to her.

Reaching out she grabbed it and stared at the large three that was glowing on the screen. Rose took another deep breath, pondering her decision and decided to go for it. Going to the number pad she dialed the number that she knew by heart, and waited.

"He-llo," a groggy voice answered.

Rose bit her lip. Her heart racing wildly in her chest. "Hello," he said again, this time clearer. For a moment Rose wasn't sure that she could speak but then she heard him say, "Rose?"

"Did I wake you?" Her voice jumping an octave. "I didn't mean to. I can call you ba—"

"No," Scorpius said quickly, now fully awake. "It's fine, hold on." As she waited Rose could hear the rustling of him moving and the clicking of a lamp.

"Hey," He said coming back to the phone.

"Hi," Rose said again, this time in a weaker voice.

"I was beginning to think that you'd never talk to me again." He said, his voice ringing through her thoughts.

Rose reached for the chain of her lamp and shifted back down into her bed. Her eyes closing at the sound of his voice. "No," she spoke softly.

There was a long silence between them. The sound of heavy breathing carrying over through the phone line.

"When will I see you again?" Scorpius said in a desperate tone.

Rose was absentmindedly rubbing her hand over her stomach. "I don't know."

A static silence filled the phone line—magic interfering—and Scorpius gave a steady sigh. "Have you made a healer appointment yet?" Scorpius asked expectantly.

Rose hand stopped, and she squeezed her eyes together—mentally kicking herself for forgetting again. "No," she droned guilty, sensing his disappointment. "I will tomorrow."

"Good," his voice trailed off. "How are you doing?"

Rose blew out a low grouchy sigh. "My jeans are becoming tight." She couldn't help but laugh near the end.

She heard him release a light breath and could picture him closing his eyes as he did so. "Really?" he asked after a pause.

"Yeah," she whispered, "I didn't think that happened until month five or six."

Scorpius chuckled even louder. "Afraid not," he responded.

"It's awful." Her eyes widened at another reminder. "Oh, and the baby has elbows."

"Elbows," Scorpius repeated surprised.

"Yup." Rose nodded to herself. "Very small, tiny, bendable elbows."

"Interesting," He said fascinated.

"I thought so too." Rose rolled onto her side—hugging a pillow to her and rubbing her cheek against it. "How are you?"

"Carla already told you." He laughed.

Rose's eyes went cross. That would be the last time she called Carla for information. "I was hoping that it was a lie."

Scorpius sighed. "What did you expect? That I'm going to be happy that my wife is gone."

Rose didn't have a response to the statement, except that it made her feel extremely guilty to hear it.

"Rose," Scorpius said pulling Rose's attention back to him.

"Hmm?" she hummed.

"Stay on the phone until I fall asleep?" He asked softly.

She couldn't come home yet, she wasn't ready, but she could do that. "Okay," she whispered. Rose repositioned her head against the pillow and imagining that it was Scorpius' chest; her body finally relaxing into a position to comfortable sleep in. "Scorpius," she said after several minutes.

"What love?" He murmured, with his voice trailing off at the end.

"I'm miserable too." But she had a feeling that he had already gone to sleep, and instead of hanging up, Rose closed her eyes and fell asleep to his steady breathing.

A/N: I hope that you liked it. Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think.


	3. Unexpected Visits

**Chapter 3**

"Good morning Carla," Scorpius said brightly, as he walked into the Auror office carrying two steaming cups of coffee.

Carla raised an eyebrow to him. "You're in a good mood this morning," she said, taking the cup coffee that Scorpius was holding out to her.

"Yes I am." He sat his own cup down on his desk and grinned.

Carla smirked, craning her neck to look over Scorpius shoulder. "So I'm assuming this means that you talked to Rose?"

Scorpius' is grin widened. "She called last night," He said, taking a seat and reaching into his desk for a thick file folder.

"Told you she'd come around," Carla commented, swiveling her chair from side to side as she sipped on her coffee and stared at something behind Scorpius "So is she coming home?"

Scorpius stopped flipping through the folder. "Not exactly." He looked up to his partner. "But the fact that she called…I'm taking as an achievement." He reached for his quill. "No one knows how to hold a grudge like Rose does."

"Point well made," said Carla, using her heels to scoot her chair closer into her desk, but keeping her eyes focused on something past Scorpius.

Scorpius smirked and looked around the room. "What do you keep staring at?"

"Cornell's office." Carla pulled her eyes from the door to Scorpius. "Matt's new partner is in there, and Rose wanted me to give her information."

The expression on Scorpius' face went crooked. "Why?"

"Why do you think?" Carla answered bluntly, crossing her arms.

His eyes widened in confusion. "Because…" he pushed, reaching for his cup.

Carla sighed. "She's afraid that she is going to get mommy tacked."

Hot coffee spewed from his lips as he choked on his drink. Reaching for a napkin, he wiped a stain off his tie. "What is that?" he asked.

"Scorpius how many women in this office have kids?" Carla asked, waving her hand around the floor.

Scorpius pursed his lips, and examined the room. In general there weren't many women in the office, and he didn't know any of them well enough to be able to know if they had kids or not. "Five?" he guessed.

"Two," Carla corrected. "And neither of them is on field duty."

"Oh." Scorpius leaned back in his chair, finally understanding. "You don't think that Cornell would take Rose of field duty after she has the baby do you?"

Carla shook her head. "I'm not saying that, but I know that when Rose first moved here she was replacing a mother that was on maternity leave."

Scorpius looked over his shoulder to stare at Cornell's office. "He can't just take her off field duty without a reason."

"I'm not saying that he takes women off field duty for having kids." Carla argued. "I'm saying that most women request to be taken off, or they quit."

"Rose loves her job, she'd never quit." Scorpius countered.

"That's what the woman who Rose replaced said too. Rose is convinced that Cornell will be scoping Matt's new partner out to replace her." Carla crossed her arms. "And she has reason to be worried. I think Cornell is full prepared for the possibility that when Rose comes back her first priority isn't going to be work. There is a reason to believe that she may not be as good at her job when she comes back."

Scorpius' mouth was a gap. It wasn't that he had never considered the possibility that things were going to change after the baby was born, but he hadn't really thought about how they would change. He was more concerned about getting Rose back in the same country as him. "Do you think Rose needs to be worried about this?"

Cornell's office opened and a short girl with long brown hair emerged. She was young, maybe nineteen or twenty, and looked as though she had just arrived from the Auror training department. Although she was small, the pointed expression her face gave Scorpius the impression that she could hold her own in a fight.

When Cornell walked out behind her she gave a doting smile to him, which Cornell returned in the same manner. "Everybody," Cornell's voice boomed. The office went quiet as everyone's attention went onto Cornell and the girl. "This is my niece Mindy Collins Cornell, she will be taking over for Rose while she is away."

Scorpius looked back to Carla's surprised expression. "Yes, I do think Rose needs to be extremely worried."

As she walked out of the office, she gave a sideways glance to Matt who was pointing her to the direction of Rose's desk.

* * *

><p>"Mum are you seriously going to walk me all the way to the maternity department?" Rose asked to a fussy Hermione.<p>

"Well if you had followed the schedule I made you yesterday I wouldn't have to do this," Hermione stated turning down a hallway that led to the maternity wing of St. Mungos.

"I forgot," Rose said sheepishly. "I've been doing that lately."

"I know, it's called being pregnant, which is why it is so important to schedule an appointment." Hermione yanked on a door, holding it open for Rose.

The room was unlike any of the other wings in the hospital. It was painted sky blue and in the corner was a play set with two screaming children tugging on the same doll. On the walls were moving paintings of tubby bears with a handful of balloons, and princesses dancing in circles. And there was music, happy children's sing alongs playing over an intercom.

"This room is awful," Rose mumbled to her mother.

Hermione gave a wide grin. "Go make your appointment dear."

Sighing, Rose dragged her feet over to a desk at the front of the room.

"Dear Merlin," Rose slipped out at the sight of the woman behind the desk. She was middle aged but had her hair in high pigtails, and was wearing an awful shade of bright pink.

"Good afternoon," a woman said in a voice that was way too happy for Rose's taste.

"Hi," Rose said, unable closing her eyes as she tried to block out the sound of children's voices. "I need to make an appointment."

"You going to be a new mummy, how exciting," she announced, pulling out a clipboard. "Have you had an appointment yet?"

Rose shook her head. "Nope." The sound of the screaming girls was becoming louder. "First one," she said turning to look at the girls who were fighting, and a new little boy who had a wooden block in his mouth. "Is it safe for him to be eating on that?"

The woman looked over the desk and made goo goo eyes to the toddler. "I'm sure it is, but if not it's a good thing we are in a hospital."

Rose shuddered as she turned back to the woman. "So I need an appointment," she said bringing the woman back on track.

"Oh goody." The woman looked at her clipboard. "What's your name, and about how far along do you think you are?"

"Rose Malfoy," Rose coughed. "Three months I think."

The woman looked up from her clipboard. "Oh, you weren't trying to get pregnant were you?"

"How—No." Rose pushed a smile onto her face. "No we weren't. Not even close."

The receptionist didn't catch the annoyance in Rose's voice. "It's always a happy surprise when you find out you're expecting isn't it?"

Rose tapped her finger on the desk. "Well I can get you in today if you like, I just had a cancelation."

There was a tugging on the bottom of her jeans. "Umm," she looked down to see another baby boy at her feet. Rose's head shot up her stare at her mother with panicked eyes. "Let go," she mouthed, shaking her leg from the baby's grasp, but the baby only wrapped both his arms around her. "Help me."

Hermione walked over to rose, giggling to herself, and scooped up the baby. "Well aren't you cute," she said making a face that made the baby laugh.

"So would you like the appointment?" The woman asked.

Rose turned back to the patiently waiting woman. "Umm, actually I rather wait for my husband to be available."

A sweet expression crossed the woman's face. "How about June 12th at six?"

Rose had to think about what time that would be for Scorpius in New York. Pushing her hair out of her face Rose took a hectic breath. "That works."

Once the receptionist penciled her in Rose turned around to see her mother sitting in the floor with all four of the children. The two girls had stopped fighting to play with Hermione's bushy hair, the boy with the block was holding on out for her to take, and the baby was sitting in her lap and blowing bubbles with its saliva.

"I have an appointment. You happy?" Rose asked from across the room.

Hermione met her daughter's eyes. "Thank you dear."

Rose, who was getting a headache from the music, suddenly felt exhausted and overwhelmed. "Can we leave now?"

Hermione put the baby to the side and stood up. "Yeah."

As they walked back to Ron's room Hermione asked, "Are you alright."

Rose closed her eyes. "Did I just treat a baby like a dog?"

"Oh dear," Hermione comfortingly. "It's okay, you won't do that to your child."

Rose laughed. "I don't know how I'm going to do this mum. Babies are just so…needy."

Hermione looped her arm over Rose's shoulder. "You'll adjust to it."

Rose leaned her head back. "I don't know how."

Hermione gave Rose's shoulders a squeeze to get her attention. "Rose you know what might make you feel better?"

"What?" Rose groaned.

"Going home for a couple of days," Hermione suggested.

Rose shook her head defiantly "I can't go home for a couple of days mum. You have way to much going on."

Hermione chewed on her lip, not disputing the fact. "Alright then going home for a few hours."

Rose scrunched her eyebrows together. "Are you trying to get rid of me, because I'm not sure how seeing Scorpius for a few hours going to help anything."

Hermione began to brush her fingers through Rose's hair. "Dear, I just don't want you to feel like you're giving up what should be a happy time in your life for us."

"I'm not giving anything up mum," Rose tried to protest.

Hermione waved her hand. "Rose go see Scorpius, I'm sure you miss him."

Rose scratched her temple and bit her lip. "Mum…" They'd stopped outside her father's door.

"Rose go." Hermione ordered. "A few hours away isn't going to hurt."

Rose sighed. "Fine, I'll go see my husband," she said sarcastically, which took Hermione off guard.

* * *

><p>When Scorpius walked in his apartment that evening, he immediately noticed that something was off. His kitchen counters, which he'd left a cereal box and half eaten toast on that morning, were scrubbed. A mop was charmed to mop the floors and he also heard the washing machine on in the laundry room. For a moment he couldn't tell if he'd been burgled, or if he'd hired a house elf.<p>

"Oh for Merlin's sake," he heard someone mumble from the bedroom.

Instinctively, Scorpius grabbed his wand, gripped it tightly in his hand, and began to follow the sound of the voice. Using his wands tip to push open the door he saw that his bed—now made—was covered with piles of _his _t-shirts, and more were being levitated from the closet.

"Seriously," Rose's voice half yelled from the closet. "I'm gone for two weeks and you just let everything pile up."

"Rose?" Scorpius said, quickly putting his wand on the nightstand and looking into the closet.

Rose tripped over her shoes as she spun around to see Scorpius in the closet doorway. Holding out her hand to catch herself on the wall, she looked up to him. "Hi," she said calmly.

Scorpius tilted his head and continued to stare at Rose. "What are you doing?"

She lowered her eyes away from him, and fiddled with edges of the folded duffle bag that she was holding. "I just wanted to pick up some things," she said, and walked passed him.

Still in shock, Scorpius turned around and watched as she started to walk around the room, placing items in the bag. For the past two weeks all he had wanted was to see her, but now that she was here he didn't know what to say. Keeping his eyes on her, to make sure that this wasn't a hallucination, he walked over to the other side of the bed.

Rose reached for the stack of his t-shirts on the bed and put them in the bag. "Whose bag are you packing? Yours or mine?" Scorpius asked eyeing the bag suspiciously.

Rose looked up to him. "They're comfier to sleep in," she answered simply, zipping the bag.

Scorpius couldn't help but grin. "So you do miss me," he commented in a cocky way.

Rose lifted the bag off the bed. "I made an appointment," she announced, in attempt to change the subject.

"You did?" he asked, walking around the bed so that he was only about a foot away from her.

Rose nodded, gazing down to the floor. "Yeah," she cleared her throat, "it's next Thursday at six. I tried to get one as late as possible, but if I need to move it—"

"No, that's perfect," Scorpius took another step closer, which made Rose close her eyes. "We're going to get to see how little person is doing," he said in a gruffly.

Rose could feel his breath hitting the side of her neck. "You're—" She popped her head up, accidentally knocking him in the nose.

"Bloody hell," Scorpius muttered as he turned his head to the side and covered his nose.

"I'm sorry." Rose raised her hand up to his face, tilting him towards her. "Will you let me see it?" she asked, rubbing her thumb against his wrist.

Scorpius stared at her for a moment before lowering his hand from his nose. Rose cringed. His nose was turning purple and dripping with blood. "Sit down," she ordered, rushing to the kitchen and returning with a wet wash cloth wrapped in ice.

Kneeling in front of him, she tipped his head forward and pushed the ice to his nose. He winced and opened his eyes, but calmed as he felt Rose tenderly press her hand against his neck.

She didn't even notice that he was looking at her—her focus was solely on injury. "Is it broken?" he asked.

Rose removed the bag to examine it closer. Gently, she ran her fingers around his nose, moving closer to it little by little, but when she actually touched his nose he flinched. "Afraid so," she said, reaching into her pocket for her wand. "Close your eyes."

_Crack_, his nose snapped back into place and the swelling began to subside. "It's fixed," she whispered.

Scorpius opened his eyes to see Rose smiling at him. One hand still skimming his face, while the other wiped away the blood. He leaned forward, his forehead barely touching hers. "What were you going to say before?" he asked.

Rose pushed the ice back onto the tender area of his nose. She cleared her throat. "Just that you're excited aren't you?"

Scorpius smirked. "I am." He nodded his head softly. "I know that we're going through some weird stuff right now, but how can I not be excited." Rose frowned and lowered her eyes. "You're not excited though," Scorpius inferred.

Rose sighed. "I don't know what I am." She continued to move the cloth over his nose. "I've never wanted children Scorpius, and I'm not sure how to react now that I'm having one. I keep reading all these books that say that I should already feel connected to this child, but I don't." Rose kept her eyes focused on what her hands were doing. "I guess lately, I've been questioning if there's a motherly bone in my body."

"Hey," said Scorpius, grabbing her wrist so that she would look him in the eyes. "You're going to be a great mum Rose," he said with a reassuring nod. "I mean look how quickly you rushed to help me." He cupped her cheek. "Just because you don't feel anything now doesn't mean that you won't."

Rose stared at him long enough that she lowered her hand. "I think you're better," she said, standing up. "And I think I should get going." She handed Scorpius the ice.

"Rose," Scorpius said as she was picking up her bag.

"Yeah," She faced Scorpius as though she had not been revealing her insecurities.

Scorpius took a deep breath. "I want to tell my parents that we're pregnant."

Rose slung the bag onto her shoulder. "Okay, tell them," she said indifferently.

He shook his head and stared up to her. "I want to tell them together. I them to be able to be excited about being grandparents, and I don't want to wait until your six months along just so we can figure this out."

ose crossed her arms. "So when exactly do you want to tell them?"

"I was hoping this weekend." He gave a pleading expression. "Assuming that you can stand to be around me that long."

She tapped her foot in debate. "I can try," she said eventually.

Scorpius grinned broadly. "I'll let them know we're coming."

* * *

><p>"Ugggh, I can't believe I just agreed to that," moaned Rose into the arm of her old couch at Carla's apartment.<p>

Matt walked around the couch and held a bowl of buttered soggy popcorn in front of her. "Your favorite," he said, taking the seat beside her.

Rose sniffed and perked her head up. Staring at the bowl, she extended her hand, digging into the bowl. "I don't know what I'm going to do Matt," she said, her mouth full of popcorn.

"Rose, what's the worst that could happen?" Carla said from the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of red wine.

Rose whipped her head around, but didn't have a response. Carla quirked her eyebrow. "Thought so," she said joining the other two in the living room. "I think you're overacting."

"Maybe," She uttered under her breath. "Probably. It's just that the thought of pretending that everything is alright makes me so frustrated. I am tired of pretending with him."

"If you don't want to go then just tell him that you've changed your mind," announced Matt as though it were that simple.

Rose grabbed another handful of popcorn. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Matt asked, sifting through the popcorn for a burnt piece.

Rose sighed. "You should have seen how happy he was."

Carla interjected. "Rose, he misses you of course he's happy."

"It's not just about that," She said softly, staring down to her hands. "He's excited about the baby and telling his parents and…" Rose looked up from her hands. "I don't want to keep that from him," She paused shoving a piece of popcorn in her mouth. "But I also don't want to be around him."

"You know it's been a year since he came to New York." Rose rubbed her forehead.

"Oh, how times have changed," joked Matt.

Rose flicked a piece of popcorn to him.

"What? It's true." Matt responded. "I mean think about it, this time last year you couldn't even stand the thought of going on a date with someone and now you're married."

"And pregnant," Carla added.

Rose chimed in. "And just as screwed up as before." She gave a witty smirk to her friends.

"Not in every way." Carla gave Rose's arm a soft squeeze.

"Sure feels that way," remarked Rose.

Carla tilted her head sympathetically. "You know whenever you decided to come back to New York, you can always have your old room back…for as long as you need," She added glancing at Rose's belly.

Rose looked to Carla and patted her hand. "Thank you, but I think that we're—" she rubbed her hand over the small bump. "fine at my parent's for now."

"I know, I was just giving you the option," Carla said sweetly.

Rose nodded in understanding, not wanting to admit that she had no idea where she or the baby would be living after it was born. A part of her hoped that it would be back with Scorpius, but she wasn't going to get her hopes up. "So, have you met my replacement?" she asked changing the subject.

Matt's posture stiffened. "Yeah, she's nice, very short, but nice." He looked to Carla nervously.

Rose chewed on her lip, "What was with that look?" she asked raising her eyebrows.

"Nothing," Carla said. "There's nothing to worry about."

Rose gave them a suspicious eye. "Right," she said sharply. "You're not telling me something.

Matt looked down to the empty bowl and stood up abruptly. "I'm going to make more popcorn."

"I'll help," Carla said quickly, following him.

"Yeah, like I'm going to let you off the hook that fast," Rose said following them into the kitchen. "What are you keeping from me?" She crossed her arms determined.

They exchanged another look, and then turned to Rose. "She might be Cornell's niece," Carla said in a gentle tone.

"Might?"

"Is," Matt confirmed.

Rose's arms dropped along with her mouth. "Well that's just great." She grunted. "He thinks that I'm not going to be able to handle my job." Rose covered her face with her hand and shook her head. "I'm going to be filing papers for the rest of my life," she whined stomping her feet.

"Oh calm down," Matt said throwing an arm over Rose's shoulders. "Not the rest of your life just until you retire."

"Matt!" screeched Carla hitting him hard in the arm.

Rose lowered her hands to glare at her supposed partner. "You are not funny," she shouted.

A/N: Alright so some good news and bad news. The good news is that you are finally caught up with website hpff and the point that I am currently writing at. The bad news is that you are finally caught up, which means you are going to be forced to follow updates through my crazy hectic school schedule. Not that I don't update frequently, I try to do so at least every 2 weeks but lately that hasn't been probable so it has been more like once a month. Anyways Ch. 4 is currently 50% done and thank you for reading. Please stick with me.

Now onto the chapter. What did you think? I hope you liked the little scene between them. Anyways please review, and Happy Holidays.


	4. Problematic Situations

**Chapter 4**

"Are you sure you're alright with taking over my dad duty this weekend? Because if you're busy I can always cancel."

Hugo chuckled and stood up from the lime green hospital chair that he was sitting in. "It sounds like you want to get out of going."

Rose sneered at her detailed oriented brother. "Nothing gets past you Hugo," She said, yanking the mushed pillow out from her father head and punching it into a better shape.

"Not much," He responded in a snarky tone that Rose didn't appreciate.

"All I am saying is that I know you have other priorities." She continued to punch the pillow even though it was fully plumped.

"Rose it's half a day," Hugo reasoned, watching Rose lift her father's head. "I thought things were getting better with you two?" he asked while she awkwardly shoved the pillow underneath's Ron's head, causing his neck lay in at an odd angle.

"What gave you that impression?" She asked, glancing up to her brother before she started fussing over her father's blankets.

"Well, you've seemed to be in a better mood since you saw him the other day," Hugo said gradually.

Rose stopped and straightened her posture. "That doesn't mean that I am ready to spend a weekend with him, pretending that everything is perfect, and sleeping in the same bed as him." She heaved a loud breath. "He really fucked up Hugo."

Hugo didn't push for information on the topic, instead he said, "Well you can always force him to sleep on the floor."

Rose went back to tugging on her father's blankets. "Trust me the thought has crossed my mind," She mumbled, pulling the blankets up to her father's neck.

Hugo laughed. "Rose will you relax, this weekend might be a good thing."

"Or it could be a disaster." She said, moving her hands down the sides of her father's body and tucking the sides of the blanket. She straightening her posture and observed the mummified version on her father. Finally raising her eyes to her brother she added, "I'm just not ready for this at the moment."

Hugo looked down to his watch. "Well if you procrastinate any longer you're going to be late."

An annoyed expression crossed Rose's face. "Oh Merlin forbid," she muttered, walking around the bed and picking up the bag she had packed earlier that morning. "Tell mum if she needs anything to owl me."

"Will do," said Hugo, placing his hands on Rose's shoulders and giving them a squeeze. "And will you try to make the best out of this weekend?"

Rose lowered her gaze and sighed. "I make no promises," she said, raising her free arm and hugging Hugo.

As she made her way to the floo fireplaces in St. Mungos she was stopped by the sound of a familiar voice.

"Stacy look, look, look," Bryan's excited voice came. Rose looked ahead at the healer's station that Bryan was standing in front of. Perched on the edge of the desk was a chubby baby, with dark brown hair and hands reached out grabbing the quill cup to bang. Bryan waved his hand dramatically. "Look what I taught him."

"Oh Merlin," Stacy said, popping up from behind the station and pulling on the cup that the baby was now banging on the counter—quills flying everywhere.

"Trust me you'll love it," Bryan assured, bending down to his son's eye level. "Toby." The baby jerked his head to his father. "Thursday,"

"Yuck," Toby replied with a giggle.

Stacy raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" She asked with a blank expression, grabbing the cup from Toby's hand.

Bryan stared to laugh, as though it were the greatest thing he had ever seen. "Isn't it awesome?" he said, tickling his son's stomach.

Stacy collected the quills that had been thrown across the floor. "Many words come to mind Bryan, but awesome isn't one of them." She put the quills back in the cup, then patted Toby's head.

Bryan bent his head back and chuckled louder. "I think it's perfect."

"I bet you do," Stacy shot back, but said it with a smile.

Grinning Bryan leaned forward and kissed his wife. "What time do you get off?"

Stacy's hand was cautiously on Toby's stomach, keep him from falling of the counter. "I'm just waiting for Ben to stop by with his flying clearance form."

"Which he probably hasn't even picked up yet," Bryan stated.

"That's not true," Came Ben's voice from the entrance door—Albus following in behind Ben. "I picked up the form ten minutes ago," he said dangling a piece of parchment in front of Stacy's face.

Stacy snatched the paper from his hands. "You know the rest of the Falcons were cleared two weeks ago."

"Sorry," Ben said unapologetically, then quickly turned to Toby, and picked him up. "I'm sure your mummy won't mind that her best friend is a procrastinator," he said in a baby voice, bouncing Toby in his arms.

Stacy grabbed a clipboard from behind the counter and slid the clearance form onto it. "I'm going to go get room ten set up, just come on back when you're ready." She nodded to Ben.

"I'll be waiting for you outside," Bryan called after Stacy and then turned to Ben, who was causing Toby to giggle continuously.

"Hey want me to throw him to you like a Quaffle?" Ben asked Bryan.

Bryan's eyes went wide, he took an anxious step towards Ben with his hands held out. "I'm good," he answered, reaching to take Toby from Ben's hold. "I rather not explain to Stacy how I dropped our baby… again."

"Maybe next time," Ben said letting go of Toby.

"How about never," Bryan said waving Toby's hand to say goodbye, as he walked towards the door.

Ben stared fondly at the father and son as they left. "Don't you want one?" he said to Albus.

Albus, who hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on, jerked his head to Ben and stared. "No," he said bluntly. "Besides don't you think we're busy enough trying to plan a wedding that isn't going to hound the covers of _Witch Weekly_?"

Ben shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see a problem with just letting them know."

"I know you don't," Albus stated sternly. "You also don't see a problem with indecent exposure in a parking lot."

"That was once, and it was four years," countered Ben innocently.

Albus nodded his head. "And you have yet to pay me back the bail money, or the port key expenses for me to travel from Greece."

"You're grumpy today." Ben raised a hand to pat Albus' cheek.

Albus looked around the sparsely crowded hall and pulled away from his fiancé. "Do you mind?"

Ben looked as though her were a child being scolded. Taking a step closer, he hovered over Albus. "All I'm saying is that if we tell them on our own then we can do it on our terms." His voice serious.

Albus pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can we not have this conversation again? I don't want everyone to know, so please accept that." He lowered his hand and stared at Ben sternly.

Ben took a step backwards—giving Albus space—and gave a sullen nod. "Fine."

Just from Albus' posture Rose could tell that something was wrong. Deciding to rescue him she walked over to the pair. "Hey Albus," she said pretending that she hadn't just been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Hi," Albus grumbled, turning to the counter and staring at nothing in particular.

Ben's frown turned into a smile. "Hi Rose," he said in a chipper tone.

"So," Rose said trying to think of a safe topic to talk about. "You're finally settling down on a date for the wedding?" Albus went rigid has he picked up a stack of sticky notes from the desk and began to strum the edge with his thumb.

"Ha," Ben laughed. "I've been trying to convince him to pick a date for months now. I'm still hoping that we can get married by the end of summer, but he is making it impossible."

Albus whirled around. "Didn't we come here so you can be cleared to play in the World Cup play offs?"

Ben looked taken aback. "Yeah," he stated slowly. "She said I could go back any time."

"Well can you go ahead and get it done," Albus said agitatedly.

"What is the matter with you," Ben asked hitting Albus in the arm.

"Nothing," Albus exaggerated, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I just don't want to be here all day."

Ben scrunched his forehead to Albus. "Whatever," he said confused, and turned to walk down the hall. "I'll see you around Rose," he yelled over his shoulder, still giving Albus a bizarre look.

"Okay," Rose replied sweetly before turning on Albus, after Ben was out of earshot. "What was that about?" she said in an interrogating tone.

Albus propped his hand on the counter. "What was what about?" He asked as though Rose were crazy.

"You know what I'm talking about Albus. You acting like prick while Ben was talking about the wedding." She placed her hand on the front desk to mimic Albus' posture.

Albus' eyes went wide as he nervously searched the hall for anyone listening in. "Will you keep your voice down?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"Albus," Rose snapped, narrowing her eyes to him.

"Fine," he hissed. "But not here." He grabbed Rose's hand and tugged her farther down the hall. Shoving her inside an empty hospital room Albus kept his face towards the shut door before turning around and announcing, "I haven't told my parents that I'm gay yet. In fact, besides you and James I haven't told anyone."

"WHAT!" Rose shouted in surprise.

"Shhhh," he hissed, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was entering the room.

"How is that possible?" Rose continued. "I thought you told them six months ago at that dinner?"

Albus nodded then switched to shaking his head. "Yeah, no, didn't do that. I chickened out."

Rose's mouth hung open. "And Ben hasn't questioned you about it yet?" She asked trying to process Albus' declaration in her head.

"Quidditch season started, he's been a bit preoccupied to notice," he said sheepishly.

Rose thought about the way Ben was pushing Albus moments before. "But he's starting to notice now?" Rose asked, a sense of deep remorse for Ben coming over her.

Albus began to pace the room erratically. "I don't know what I'm going to do?"

"Well you're going to have to tell him the truth," Rose announced as though it was the only logical option.

Albus' stopped halted and whipped his head in Rose's direction. "Are you insane? I can't do that, he's going to hate me." He waved his hand dramatically.

Rose crossed her arms and scowled. "Not as much as he is going to hate you if he finds out from someone else?"

"Oh yes," He pivoted and took a step towards Rose. "Because my sexual orientation comes up in a lot of conversations," Albus reasoned.

"Albus that's not an excuse." Albus dragged his eyes off of Rose. Uncrossing her arms she walked over to her cousin. "As someone who has been lied to for the past six months I can tell you that what you are doing is not okay," she advocated, placing an encouraging hand on his shoulder. "Tell Ben the truth, because if you don't you could very well lose him."

Albus' shoulders sagged, and he bent his head, hiding his shame. "And if I don't?" he asked softly, peeking up to Rose through his eyelashes.

Rose readjusted the grip on her bag, and said, "Then Ben deserves better."

Albus' peering eyes shot back down to the gray floor.

* * *

><p>It was mid Thursday morning, and Carla had managed to get absolutely no work done. More focused on the new dress that she had bought for her date with Matt that night, she rolled her eyes as Scorpius whistled blissfully across from her. "You are way too excited about visiting your parents," she commented.<p>

"Hey," Scorpius snapped with a grin. "This is a big deal for me. Let me excited."

"Fine," Carla said, reaching out for her fifth cup of coffee that day. Gulping she stared at the clock that was on her desk and swore that the second hand was broken because time seemed to not be moving. "I hate Thursdays," she groaned loudly. "They are the worst day of the week."

Scorpius snorted. "You and my best friend would have a lot to talk about if you ever meet."

Carla glared curious about what he meant by that. "Sooo," she drawled, "What time are you due there?"

"I thought you didn't want to hear about my exciting visit to my parents," he joked.

"I need a distraction," she stated, flicking her clock to make sure that it was properly working.

Scorpius lowered his quill. "Half an hour. I cleared leaving early with Cornell yesterday, and I packed last night. So all I've got to do is finish this file and I'm gone." A chipper smile appearing on his face as his steadily beat his hands on his desk to an unrecognizable rhythm.

"Once again, I say that you are way too excited about visiting your parents," she attested.

Scorpius laughed. "Actually I'm hoping to talk Rose into moving back home, at least part time that is."

Carla gave Scorpius a wary eye. A serious expression crossing her face. "Can I offer you a bit of advice?"

"Such as?"

"Well, Rose is in a sensitive place, I don't think you should push her."

"I'm not going to push her," he said slyly. "I'm simply going to bring the topic up."

"And how convenient it is that she won't be able to escape your questions," Carla said with a grin.

"Malfoy," Cornell's voice boomed from behind him.

"Yeah," Scorpius responded.

"You have copies of Rose's old case files at home right?"

"Yeah," Scorpius said wearily.

"Great." He barked. "I need you to make copies of them and bring them to me. She's managed to put an unbreakable locking charm on her desk here, and I need Mindy to look over those."

Scorpius looked to his watch and then swiveled around in his chair. Cornell was hovering over him with an expectant look. "Can I do it on Monday? I was supposed to leave early today."

Cornell raised a bushy eyebrow and narrowed his eyes. "Matt's taking her out for recovery duty Monday, and I need her to be familiar with those files before then."

Scorpius glanced down to his watch again. The more time he spent arguing against Cornell meant the longer he was going to have to stay. "Alright," he sighed.

* * *

><p>Rose stepped out of the Malfoys fireplace and was immediately met with a group of three wizards dressed in dark blue jumpsuits. Each had a wand in their hand that they were stiffly moving up and down, and as far as Rose could tell they looked to be painting the walls of the parlor a pale yellow color.<p>

"Rose," Astoria called in a surprised tone. Clasping her hands together she walked over to Rose. Her dark raven hair pulled back into a tight bun, and her pearly white dress glowing in the suns rays. "Don't mind the work, I'm doing a little redecorating." She waved her hand around the room, and Rose noticed another group of wizards circled around a work table in the corner arguing about a line on the blue print.

"I noticed," Rose replied, browsing the room again before looking back to her mother in law.

"So," Astoria said, "Let me look at you." Before Rose even had a chance to object Astoria had grabbed her wrist and spread her arms out to the side to examine her. "You look tired," she said sweetly, "Is there a reason for that?"

Rose gulped as she caught Astoria glimpse down to her stomach and then look back to Rose with a suspiciously large grin. "Things have been a bit hectic lately." She pulled her arms away and wrapped them around her midsection. "You know with my father and…other things."

"Oh," Astoria frowned for a moment before a pleasant smile appeared. "Well, I hope he is getting better."

"He seems to be," responded Rose, avoiding Astoria's gaze and looking around the room for one man in particular. "Scorpius not here yet?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure he will be soon."

Nodding, Rose pressed her lips together, unsure what else there was to say. The two stood in silence. The sound of paint brushing swishing and saws cutting beams making the silence that much more uncomfortable.

"Why don't you go upstairs and wait for Scorpius to arrive. You might want some extra time to get ready for dinner," suggested Astoria.

Looking down to the jeans and shirt she was wearing—covered in soot—Rose sighed. "Sure."

Entering Scorpius bedroom she dropped her bag to the ground and conveniently forgot about the idea of getting dressed for dinner two hours early. Making a bee-line for the bed she sprung onto it face first and buried herself into the plushy pillows and lavish blankets; falling asleep almost instantly.

* * *

><p>An several hours Scorpius walked into a practically empty auror department carrying an overly large box of unorganized file folders.<p>

"Are you Malfoy," a bored voice said.

Scorpius turned around to see a young woman lounging at Rose's desk. She had her chair pushed far enough back so that she had room to prop her heels up and her head was laying back with her eyes closed.

Opening one eye she stared at Scorpius with a raised eyebrow. "You're the only person to walk in here in an hour," she explained, swiftly uncrossing her ankles and fanning her legs off the desk. Scorpius noticed the tip of her wand poking out from the top of her right inner boot.

"I'm assuming you're Mindy," Scorpius said dropping the box onto the desk.

"Yup," she droned, bending down to gather her bag—her long brown hair falling like a curtain around her face. "You know I've been waiting like an hour and a half," she commented.

"Well Cornell didn't tell me to get these until like an hour ago."

"Well if the woman who was here before didn't use such a ridiculous charm then we wouldn't have had a problem." Mindy stood up, barely reaching Scorpius' chest.

"I'll make sure to tell her that you think her charm is ridiculous," he stated bluntly, making Mindy snort.

"Please don't. I don't need some hormonal pregnant women hexing me." She tossed her bag over her shoulder then lowered her to stare dully at the box of files. "I don't know why he made you work late to get these. It's not like I'm going to read them this weekend."

"You're not?" Scorpius asked.

"Umm no, I have a life." She smirked up to him. "But I'm not willing to argue with my uncle about my weekend activities so…" Picking the box up, she tucked it awkwardly under her arm. "Thanks anyways though, I'm sure you and your last partner's adventures were fascinating." Turning she began to head towards the door.

Scorpius crossed his arms slightly annoyed. "They were."

Mindy turned around and flashed him a humorous smile. "I bet," she announced, continuing to walk away.

* * *

><p>Rose had to hand it to Astoria, she knew how to put together a lovely dinner setting. The table cloth was a silky white material with delicately embroidered lilies on the trim. The china was hand painted in gold, and a century old but had the appearance of being new. And the centerpiece was adorned with half Silver candle sticks and a garland of freshly cut flowers. The only thing that was missing from this lavish event was Scorpius and food.<p>

Rose, Astoria, Draco, and Narcissa had been sitting at the dinner table for nearly an hour for Scorpius to arrive. "Did he say he was going to be late?" Astoria asked Rose, breaking the long silence that was between them.

Rose pushed a pleasant smile on her face. "No. I haven't talked to him today. I've been staying at my parents' house to help my mother."

"I'm sure it won't be long," said Astoria, taking what could only be considered as an agitated breath, and returning to the silence.

Rose took a sip from her glistening crystal glass, which kept refilling itself with water, Rose looked at her watch. At the moment there were two thoughts going through her mind. The first was that she was starving. Her mouth watered from the smell of herbed potatoes and basted turkey that was permeating from behind the kitchen door. The second was that she was going to murder Scorpius for leaving her in this situation. The only reason she came to this was because he'd asked her too. He wanted to make a big deal about the baby to his parents. Rose knew that he wanted this moment to just be proud and happy, and Rose was willing to give that to him. But for Scorpius to be missing it, surprisingly left Rose feeling disappointed and lonely.

Glancing back up to the Malfoys, Rose caught the judgmental eye of Narcissa Malfoy. "Is that the _same _dress that you wore on your last visit?" Narcissa asked superiorly.

"It is," Rose answered. Lowering her eyes to her lap and smoothing out the fabric of her inexpensive black work dress. "I don't see a point in wearing clothes only once," spoke Rose softly, seeing the corner of Astoria's smile twitch as though she wanted to laugh.

Narcissa gave Rose a cold unimpressed stare as she reached for her brandy. "How lucky Scorpius is to have such an…" Narcissa glimpsed Rose up and down, "_opinionated_ wife."

Sighing, Rose heard the relieving cackle of the fire place from the other room. "I think Scorpius it here," she stated, standing up—without being dismissed—and walking into the parlor room.

* * *

><p>A cloud of ash surrounded Scorpius as he walked out of the fireplace. The parlor room was dark, but immediately he could see the remains of paint materials and plastic covering the floor.<p>

"You are five hours late," Rose said, coming into the room and closing the door behind her.

Tiredly squeezing his eyes shut, Scorpius hoped that this wasn't going to start an argument. "I planned on leaving early, but I got caught up at work."

Rose walked towards him. Her brown eyes examined him. His tie was stretched, his shirt untucked, and his collar was baggy. Taking in the look of a long day, Rose's jaw muscle relaxed. "It happens," she said pushing back the urge to be mad at him.

Scorpius' eyelids bolted open. "You're not going to yell at me for leaving you alone with my parents."

"It's not fair for me to be angry with you if it was nothing that you could control." Rose gave him a pointed look. "It was nothing that you could control right?"

"I had no control over this," Scorpius said relieved. "I promise that there is nothing more important to me than you and the baby. This was a one-time thing."

Rose nodded, lowering her eyes to look at the tops of her shoes. "Alright," she whispered.

Scorpius glanced over his wife. "This is very understanding of you," he commented, Rose usually being the type to not care what the circumstances were for a fault if she was in a stressed out situation.

Rose crossed her arms and glared up to him. "Oh, don't get me wrong I've spent that last hour envisioning fifteen different ways to murder you, but I don't want to argue in front of your family." Rose took a step towards him. "I don't want to argue with you in general. So I'm choosing to let it go."

Scorpius snorted. "And how is that working out for you?"

"It'll work out a lot better after I've eaten," she grumbled.

* * *

><p>Unfortunately for Rose, Astoria wouldn't let Scorpius even enter the dining room until he went upstairs and changed. "The rules have been the same your entire life. You will come to dinner dressed appropriately," she said, shooing him away.<p>

When Scorpius finally did come down and food was served, it took everything that Rose had not to scarf it down in one bite.

It wasn't until Narcissa took exactly four bites of her food and decided to go to bed that Astoria said, "So, what kept you so long dear?"

Scorpius swallowed his bite of Turkey. "I had to make some copies of Rose's files at home," he said looking to her. "Your desk might be a little unorganized."

Rose straightened her posture. "My files?" she asked with a suspiciously calm eye. "Why would you be making copies of my files?"

"No one could unlock the charm on your desk at work," he said as though it was just a humorous story that happened at the office. "Cornell had five wizards from the Maintenance of Uncharming department come down, and one from the Committee of Unreasonable Charms."

"There is nothing unreasonable about that charm. I created that charm," Rose said in a cold voice, stabbing her potatoes with her fork.

"An unbreakable locking charm," chimed in Draco. "That would come useful for a few things around here…like my parlor room."

"Now, now, Draco," Astoria said, cutting tiny corner off her piece of turkey.

Scorpius chuckled. "Regardless, it seemed as though you didn't want anyone going through your desk."

Remaining stiff, Rose took a small bite of her potato and lowered her fork and knife onto her plate. Her arm resting on the table. "I had assumed that Matt's files would have been enough to satisfy my replacement."

Scorpius tipped his head back and laughed. "Matt's files are the most confusing things to read," he said, reaching out and placing his hand over Rose's wrist. Tenderly wrapping his fingers around it so that his thumb covered her pulse.

Rose stared at his hand. Her neck and shoulders tense by the affection. The pad of his thumb started to stroke the area of soft skin, which aggravated Rose. Her sight followed his hand up the length of his arm and landed on his face. He was happy. He was taking pleasure out of this. It was one thing to pretend that nothing was going on between them, but they didn't have to touch to do that. He was doing this because he could.

"Besides," Scorpius continued to say—more to his parents than to Rose. "Cornell wanted Mindy to look over the cases that we closed while working together."

Rose shook her head coming back to attention. "I see," she said with a tight smile.

Draco reached for his glass of wine and leaned back into his seat. "How long do you plan to stay with your parents?" Rose caught the sneering curl of his upper lip, which he was unsuccessfully trying to hide. "I mean, it seems a bit much for the head of your department to hire a replacement."

Astoria nodded her head in agreement. "Surely you don't plan to be out of work for so long," she stated politely. Both of Scorpius' parents eyeing her.

Scorpius squeezed Rose's wrist nervously. Turning to her, his gray blue excited eyes asked if she was ready. "Go ahead," she mouthed, barely moving her lips.

His eyes twinkling he turned back to his parents. "Actually Rose won't be returning to field duty for a while."

"Oh," Draco's pointy eyebrow raised up.

"Not for about nine months," Scorpius said with a very large smile. "That's counting the maternity leave."

The angular edges of Draco's face flattened as his face dropped into a blank expression. Astoria on the other hand had a very giddy expression. Her hand clapped over her mouth as her eyes ecstatically scoured Rose up and down. "It's—it's—" she repeated in a muffled tone. "It's—"

"It's soon," Draco said, his face still shocked.

Rose pulled her hand from Scorpius and reached for her water. "And unexpected." She muttered, still holding her smile.

"Oh, Draco it's wonderful," Astoria exclaimed, jumping up from her chair and frolicking from the room. "I'll be right back," she called from the stairs.

Draco managed to recompose himself. His angular features returning into an expression that was neither happy nor disappointed. "Alright then," was all he said, which Scorpius took as a good sign.

Scorpius leaned into Rose's ear. "See this wasn't so horrible," he whispered.

Rose turned to stare at him. "Are you happy?" she asked more bluntly than she meant too sound.

"Very," he said, kissing the tip of her forehead.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh," Astoria's excited, unladylike voice sang from the top of the stairs. Her heels clacking against the marble as she scurried back into the dining room. "Here you go," she said dropping a large blue striped hat box in front of Scorpius and Rose.

"What is it?" Rose asked, eyeing it up and down.

Astoria ripped the lid off. "Just a few things that I used when I was pregnant with him." She glanced fondly over to Scorpius and then to Rose—her large smile growing even larger.

Rose stood up and looked inside. There was a few journals and scrap books, and folded baby blanket, and an old leather bound book. As Rose sifted through it Astoria said, "That was my pregnancy diary, and this—" she pulled out one of the scrap books, "—was my month by month album with all of my ultrasound pictures." She opened it up and showed to Scorpius. Both Astoria and Scorpius looked elated as they looked through the book—occasionally laughing or cooing.

Rose picked up the other album and flipped to a random page that was covered in dozens of color schemes and designs for a nursery. Becoming overwhelmed Rose put the album back and sat down. Slouching back, Rose limply hung her arms over the arm rest. Bending her head back, she rolled her neck to look at Draco—he was sitting in a similarly bored position.

"Ohhh," Astoria drawled, carefully reaching into the box and pulling out the leather bound book. "And this was probably the most important thing of all."

Rose flipped back to Astoria with an unenthusiastic deadpanned expression. "Another diary," she asked, yawning from her sudden tiredness.

"No." Astoria smiled, handing the book to Rose. "It's a book with all of the stars and constellations names in it."

"Of course," Rose said as though she'd expected a book of constellation names to come out of the box. "Because baby needs to know all the maps of the solar system."

Astoria gave a giddy laughed—taking Rose's sarcasm as joke. "To help pick out a name for the baby."

Rose's eyes darted to Scorpius. "Oh." Her voice shot up an octave. "So were doing that?"

"It's a tradition," Scorpius tried to say, to which Rose rolled her eyes.

* * *

><p>"I'm not naming my baby after a star!" Rose shouted to Scorpius, lugging her bag onto the bed and searching for her pajamas.<p>

Scorpius plopped down onto the mattress. "I think you're over reacting," he said closing his eyes. Rose halted her search and darted her eyes over to Scorpius. The cold stare sending a chill up his spine. Peeking at her Scorpius clarified, "All I meant was that we don't have to decide anything right now."

Yanking the white shirt she'd been searching for from the bottom of the bag, Rose awkwardly twisted her arm behind her back and attempted to reach for the zipper of her dress. "I know that," she hissed. "But I don't want your mother getting it into her head that we are for sure doing it either."

Scorpius climbed to his knees and moved over to her—circling his finger for her to turn around. "Rose, I don't think she expects anything," he said, brushing her hair off to her shoulder. "She was just excited." He pulled down on the zipper and revealed the milky white skin of her back.

Silence fell between them. Scorpius skimmed his knuckles over the skin. Her body wavering slightly as he did so.

Rose bowed her head. "I'm happy she's excited," she said.

"Yeah," Scorpius said, looping his hand through her arm and around her waist. Rose nodded, and Scorpius gave the slightest tug for her to lean into him. Tracing his fingers over the front of her stomach, he stopped at her bump. "You're showing," he whispered.

"You can't even see it."

"Yes I can." His hand pressed flat into her abdomen. "You're my wife. I know what your body looks like." Tucking his nose into her neck, he kissed the skin under his lips.

Rose went still under him. Her breath catching as he traced feathery kisses along her shoulder—pushing the sleeve of her dress down as he did. Closing her eyes, she felt the tingling of heat building inside her. All the reasons why she was mad at him left her thoughts. Scorpius' hand reached farther across her waist. The hem of her dress bunched up as he grasped a handful of the fabric.

Rose's back arched into him. Her head rolling back on to his shoulder as his kisses became fiercer. A moan escaped from her gaping mouth. Swiftly, Scorpius wrapped his arm around her ribcage, and Rose flung her fingers into his hair. She felt his teeth drag across her shoulder; his lips tantalizingly sucked. Her mind was blank—only her body was in control—and her body wanted him. She wanted to be with him. To have everything feel right again. To love him without hurting.

"Come home," Scorpius mumbled, moving his mouth up her neck. "I trust you." He lifted his head up and buried his nose into hair above her ear.

Rose's heart sunk. "Let go," she gasped, pulling away and whirling around to face him.

Scorpius dropped his arms. "What'd I do?" he asked, climbing off the bed.

"You are unbelievable," she cried out. "You truly do believe that this isn't a big deal."

"Not having my pregnant wife living with me is a big deal to me Rose," he stated in a firm tone.

Rose stormed past Scorpius over to her bag. "Apparently that is the only thing that is a big deal to you." She grabbed for her wand, flicked it to zip the back of her dress, and began to shove any clothes that were her inside of her bag. "Never mind the fact that—you know—_don't trust me_. That's not a big deal to you as long as you get me back home right?"

"I didn't say that," stressed Scorpius.

"No, but it's what you meant," she snapped, yanking the zipper of her bag closed. Whipping around unsteadily, she stared at him with hardened eyes. "You've lied to me our entire marriage. I get to be upset about that. I get to feel hurt and confused about that."

"And I'm not contradicting you," he said rationally.

"But you also aren't willing to just accept it are you? You're going to say whatever you think I want to hear if it means getting your way." Crossing her arms, she glared at him. "Do you know how insensitive that is?" she chided.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!" Scorpius shouted, towering over her. His face was red and his jaw bone was bulging. "I am trying to trust that you will come home, but you hardly talk to me and every time that you do your answer is that you don't know when you are coming him."

She stood on her tiptoes so that she was in his face. "You really don't get it do you?" she said shrilly. "I don't want to be around you right now!"

Rose turned her back to him and started to pace the room. "Do you have any idea how much you've hurt me?"

"Not particularly Rose, because you won't talk to me," he said with an edge to his voice.

Rose stopped moving and turned around. Her lips were pouted together quivering while her eyes gazed sadly at him. "Being around you makes me feel like I'm nothing."

"What?" he interjected, feeling like he'd taken a blow to the gut.

Rose blinked back invisible tears. "When I'm around you I know that there is nothing I can say or do to make you trust me. If I leave you can't trust that I'll come back. If I stay you're always terrified that I'll leave." She exhaled a sharp, heavy breath. Her stomach tightening at the thought of how small he was making her feel. "All you do is remind me that I am the one who made you distrust me so much, and I am so tired of feeling guilty for it."

Scorpius was silent. The cold, hard, shocked look in his eyes, gave Rose chills. "So basically being around me makes you feel horrible about yourself," he said in a stony tone. Sniffling, she closed her eyes unable to respond. "Well if that's the way you feel then maybe you should leave."

"Scorpius," Rose choked.

Scorpius bowed his head to ground. "Don't." He momentarily glanced up to her but scowled back to the floor. "Learning that the reason why my wife doesn't won't to come home is because she can't stand the mere sight of me is a bit much for one night. Besides it's like you said I can't trust you, which makes you feel guilty so…" He reached for the shoulder strap of her bag and held it out to her. "I'll tell my mum that something came up, and that you had to go early."

Rose stared at his somber expression—regretting every word that she had just said, but feeling relieved too. Impatiently, Scorpius shook his hand that was dangling the bag. The second that she grabbed for it, Scorpius rushed passed her to leave but paused at the door. "I'm sorry that I make you feel like nothing, because to me you are the farthest thing from it." Real tears streaming down her face now, Rose closed her eyes—shuddering as he slammed the door behind him.

A/N: Alright two things. First, so things have to get worse before they can get better, and these two really needed a moment to just hash everything out (although it was probably not the right moment to have this conversation). Still, these were things that Scorpius needed to hear, and like Rose, he needs a moment to process. I promise that things need to start to get better between them sooner rather than later. Anyways please tell me what you thought.

Now for the second thing. Over the past couple of years I have been really busy with school to respond to Reviews (something which I have felt a little bit guilty about because I am a firm believer that if you take the time to review then I should take the time to respond even if its a simple thank you because all you said was good chapter). Anyways that being said, I have a less active schedule now so from hear on out I am going to respond back to your reviews. If you have an opinion on the character or a rant about the chapter or any sort of input at all I will respond with an equally justified argument as to why I chose to do what I do. Anyways I just wanted to mention this incase you have ever wanted/had questions about the story. So yeah. Thats all and thanks for reading. And I am sorry for not responding like I should have been doing until now.


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